author
Allan Cunningham
1784–1842
A stonemason’s apprentice from Dumfriesshire who became a well-known Scottish poet, songwriter, and man of letters in London. His life joined working-class beginnings with a deep love of ballads, biography, and literary history.
2 Audiobooks
The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing his Poems, Songs, and Correspondence. With a New Life of the Poet, and Notices, Critical and Biographical by Allan Cunningham
by Robert Burns, Allan Cunningham
Stories of Romance
by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik, Allan Cunningham, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford, John Wilson
About the author
Born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, in 1784, Allan Cunningham began working life as a mason, but he spent his spare time reading, writing, and gathering songs and stories from Scottish tradition. That early grounding shaped the warm, ballad-like voice that runs through much of his poetry and prose.
He moved to London and built a literary career as a poet, journalist, and prolific author. He wrote songs, novels, and literary studies, and he became especially well known for The Lives of the Most Eminent British Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, a major work that helped bring the stories of artists to a wider public.
Cunningham moved in lively literary circles and was connected with many of the leading writers of his day. He died in London in 1842, leaving behind a body of work that reflects both Scottish tradition and the energetic print culture of the early nineteenth century.